Places to Party

Friday, July 25, 2014

Tole painting for me is like a mediation. Hours can fly by and the world goes away when I'm in front of a piece I'm working on. I love tole painting.

It's my firm belief that if you can color a coloring book, you can tole paint. It really is accessible to everyone. At it's core, tole painting is simply copying a pattern onto a surface, coloring it in and then shading or highlight an area to apply dimension to your piece. Surfaces can vary, paints can vary and even in the realm of tole painting, techniques can vary. You can create something very elegant to something cute, it really is up to you.
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Spring and Summer Pattern from Catherine Holman.

Catherine Holman Pattern Winter

Women have always used paint to decorate their homes. I often refer to paint as the great equalizer. As far back as women have kept homes, women of meticulous incomes have often turned to paint to mimic the pricier paper treatments or expensive materials used in great homes. Rosemaling or stroke work is prevalent in early Eastern European designs with entire rooms being covered in beautiful stroke work. We often see this being mimicked in screen printing processes in today's furniture. Tole painting is another way to bring beautiful images to yourhome and with you as the artist, you can be a patron of the arts as well as participate in them!

Jill Ankrom's Pattern Nick & the Moon(sans moon)

When we purchased our farmhouse sixteen years ago, we inherited a kitchen with flat white paint and spade shaped handles (and a stained carpet in the kitchen with even nastier linoleum underneath). Yuck. Flat paint captures every splatter and grease stain. What were they thinking? Seriously? So, figuring I had nothing to loose, I gathered up patterns from my favorite painting authors and even a drawing from one of my son's picture books, I went to work. I'm very proud of the results. Now, starting with winter, you can follow all four seasons as they emerge on my cabinets, ending with Halloween. (Added benefit? If I like a holiday decoration, I can leave it in my kitchen year round and say it's part of the "theme"!)

Our Family Going Trick o' Treating. Dixon in his
bee costume.

In each house, there is something painted that is just for my family. It may be my cats in the window, our house number, the sign in the front yard that reads "Just Bob Was Here" (my son's story book the snowman is pulled from) or even my family trick o' treating with my son in his bee costume.
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Just Bob Was Here.

When you are the artist, you can add those little little touches that make that piece mean something to you and your family. A favorite picture from a picture book can decorate a child's room, little touches can make those pieces family heirlooms.
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Catherine Holman's pattern Fall.

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One woman I met was painting her farm animals on her dining room wall. While not for everyone, they were very special to her and so every time someone came to her house, they had a unique mural that was deeply personal to the homeowner and a built in conversation piece.

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Donna Atkins Pumpkin Cats

So, if you are ready to embark on a new adventure, I'll share with you how to create beautiful artwork for your home. I promise you it is totally accessible and you can do it! In my next post, I'll teach you how to prep a surface, what brushes to invest in if you are an absolute beginner, how to resize a pattern to fit your surface, how to transfer a pattern and begin base painting. So let your eyes wander to see what captures your fancy. When you find it, make a copy and get ready to PAINT!

Monday, July 21, 2014

I fully believe that one of the best things you can give to anyone in this life is a new skill. As I tell my son often, things can be taken away from you at any moment-your job, your house, your family- but once you develop a skill, it is yours to keep forever. So I was delighted when, after he tasted my sour cherry jelly, he said very enthusiastically that he wanted to make more jelly with me this weekend.

There is always something more fun to do thanchores!

That was, of course, until the time actually came to make jelly and cartoons were on. Needless to say, I got his little butt up and we made a batch of sour cherry jelly. For all his complaining, he was very proud of himself. As soon as his father came in, his eyes lit up and he announced that his jelly would be ready in the morning to be put on toast and it would be delicious.

Teaching my son life skills is so very important to his father and I. At fourteen, he can do his own laundry, make some simple food items, clean a bathroom and living room, mow the lawn and now, make jelly. Life is uncertain. The economy is no where near as rugged as it was when my parents simply graduated high school and got a fantastic job paying good wages and benefits. No, instead, you can do everything right and still get laid off. The spouse you thought you'd be with forever morphs into someone you don't recognized. To use a quote from, The Incredibles, "Life favors the prepared". So today, I'm going to show you how to make a jelly. My jelly may have a few little floaties in it as I didn't use a jelly bag but it's quick. With jelly and jam making, the process is quick, it's all in the preparation.For cherry jelly you will need the following (from the Sure Jell measurements):ingredients:

equipment:canning jarscanning lids and screw topsjar lifterLarge pitcherStrainer that fits in the pitcher1 large stockpot1 small stockpotLadleBowl1 small saucepan1 cookie sheetTo make the cherry juice:
﻿﻿Take at least 5 quarts of sour cherries and put them in your smaller stockpot. Crush them with your hand in the stockpot. Add the heat and heat for about 10 mins crushing against the side of the stockpot periodically. Let cool a bit.

Here Dixon is crushing the cherries against the strainer to getall the juice.

Once cool, put your strainer over the pitcher and begin ladling your now cooked sour cherries into the strainer. With a ladle, mash the sour cherries against the strainer to get as much liquid out of them as possible. Dump out the mashed cherries and start with a new ladle full. Repeat until you have used up all your cherries.

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If you have any left over from canning,add equal amounts of sugar and juiceand make a delicious simple syrup forfruit salad or drinks!

At this point if you don't have time to finish the process, put it into the fridge. You can always can this the next day. This is what I mean about processing on the run!Taking the large stockpot, boil the canning jars you intend to use. Boiling insures that the cans are sterile. There is absolutely no sense in doing all this work and then have to pitch the canned goods simply because the cans weren't sterile. Botulism is a serious condition and there is no real way of telling if it exists in your canned goods. The best way to insure that your can goods are safe is by keeping everything clean.Remove the jars out of the stockpot and put on your cookie sheet. Putting on a lipped cookie sheet ensures that any "drippage" is trapped in the cookie sheet and doesn't cascade down your stove front.When you are ready to can, bring a saucepan of water to a boil and put in the lids (not the screw tops) that you intended to use. Take your sugar and measure it out into a separate bowl. Heat up 3 1/2 cups of cherry juice and mix with your pectin. Bring to a rolling boil and once there, add your all at once. Stir vigorously for one minute. Skim off any foam that comes up. After a minute, ladle into your sterilized jars. Wipe down the rim of the jars. This is an important step as you want to be sure that you have a good seal before you put these on your shelf. Removing the lids with tongs, put the lids on each filled can and quickly screw on a screw top. Using a towel around the hot jar, make sure the screw top is on as tightly as you can.

Now the canning part.

If you have a canner, please feel free to use that. Generally there in an insert in the bottom to prevent your jars from coming into full contact with the heat. If you don't have that, a small cooking rack can be used. I often don't use anything at all but it can be dangerous to do it that way so I can't recommend that. Fill your large stockpot with water and bring it to a boil. Once at the boil, gently lower your jars into the boiling water and boil for 10 mins. Once finished, carefully lift the now hot jars and place them on your cookie sheet to set.

Setting generally takes about 24 hours. Periodically you should hear a "pop" noise which tells you your jar has sealed. We call that the "Sound of Victory" in my house. If a jar doesn't seal in 24 hours and you can remove the lid, place it in your fridge or freezer. Label your jars and place them in a proud part of your pantry so you can look at them and have the satisfaction that your work placed that food there for use by your family.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

I have to admit it bothers me. I'm on a feed for my hometown's Historical Society through Facebook and I found out this week that my elementary school, Southwest Elementary is closed and has been for a while apparently. When did this happen? Southwest was your quintessential small town school and a country dirt road. It had great teachers, a great principal (Mr. Blackwell) and a great playground with a stellar kickball field. Recess was a celebration in which I would bring a clothesline and we would play jump rope and with a full clothesline we could get quite a few kids jumping at once. There was rumpus games of chase and the worse thing you could do was to throw snowballs which could earn you an appointment with the dreaded paddle (and everyone in the school knew if you got paddled, that was hot gossip among the elementary school crowd).

circa 1975-1976

We had wonderful teachers like Mrs. Vancleve, Mrs. Wonzer, Miss Lolly (Miss Lollypop to all the kids) who not only taught us but, we felt, actually cared about us. Miss Lolly taught us our vowels with puppets (A,E, I, O, U and their friend that sometimes came around, Y). We had America's bicentennial when I was in Mrs. Vancleve's class and as you can see, my role was that of an American Indian. Our lunchroom served triple duty as lunchroom, gym and auditorium. We had tables that came out of the walls like murphy beds and they hinged in the middle. When you were finished with the table, you simply wiped it down and pushed it up to hinge it and it became part of the wall. It was great. The school was so much a part of my childhood and so many other's that it is just a crushing feeling knowing that no more children will be creating memories there. From what I understand, there just aren't that many children in the school district to warrant it open. I know it's the right thing to do but so many of us cherish that school on Gale Road.

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Otisville Graduating Class 1911

A secondary blow came when we heard that they also demolished the original Otisville High School. That school was never a school when I was growing up, I believe the high school I went to was built in the 1960's, but yearbooks at my high school dated back to the turn of the century (when my great grandmother would have gone to school) and it was so charming to see the football players with their leather helmets and big O's on their chest for Otisville High and the cheerleaders with their full skirts reaching their calves (how did they cheer in those). I used to love looking at those yearbooks (I was on the yearbook committee that is how I found out about them) and read how the "Class of xx had a lovely evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. X on Friday night"... and find out there was all of six of them. Or maybe a graduating class was one person. Progress has to happen and maybe I'm just nostalgic, but tearing down a building is also tearing apart our collective history. The old Otisville High School was in the center of town as it was the center of the community. It had always been an apartment complex when I was growing up and I'm sure it had just finally reached a point that it wasn't all that safe. In my adopted hometown, we have the old high school built in 1930 and they are now trying to save that. A friend I knew was the last graduating class back in the 1970's. The building has grand Palladian windows and the cornerstone marker states it was built in the 1930's. The school lasted for about 45 years. Now it sits vacant and has for at least the 20 years I've lived in our small town. My hope is that it will be eventually converted for use.

So, to honor my old school, I'm going to give you a recipe that all of us kids loved at our lunch time. Our school made the BEST peanut butter goodies (funny to think that none of us had allergies, now these could never be served in school).

Friday, July 11, 2014

PRESERVING IN THE REAL WORLD

Maybe it's work. Maybe it's the kids, or your parents.. spouse? House? Volunteer work? Yeah, I don't know anyone out there who isn't beyond busy. I've read that we supposedly have more leisure time than any other time in history but I find that hard to believe. How many people do you know that have the time to leisurely sit around and eat bon-bons?

Me neither.So on top of this we are also supposed to start preserving and canning all the summer produce? When? When I sleep? I can hear you saying already, "I don't have time for that!"

But you know it saves you so much money to can and preserve food when it's cheap. It's a long held tradition that stretches as far back in human history as long as there were people who were hungry. And, when you have a freezer full of frozen summer fruits and shelves full of canned goods you put up, tell me it doesn't make you feel a little smug at the grocery store when a pint of berries is $3.50. Tell the truth now, you know it does.

Our day at the pick-your-own farm

A day at the pick-your-own farm
is both fun and purposeful!

But I'm as busy as you are.. between work, trying to take care of my home, the garden, my child, spouse and the various flotsam and jetsam of life, trying to preserve food sometimes feels like the straw that finally broke the camel's back. But... I have to say that it is also one of the most satisfying activities I do knowing that I have the food security that I need to get us through the winter and help save us a lot in one area of our family budget. It's a lot of work but it's both rewarding and, honestly, I find it fun.

Summer Goodness
in a jar!

There is nothing better then running upstairs to grab a jar of last summer's tomatoes for chili or a jar of homemade concord grape juice to have a refreshing drink. Knowing that you put that food in the jar and know exactly what's in there, provides a sense of self reliance that gives you a better high than any drug out there.

Take preserving in small bites. Sometimes
that means, doing one step at a time.

The key to preserving on the run is two fold. Remember the adage that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time? Well, it's the same with preserving. When I'm trying to can jelly or sauce for the winter, if I don't have the time, I certainly don't do canning marathons trying to get the produce from raw state to canned in one session. I think so many of us think we have to in order to get everything done. The answer is do it in stages. And the second part is, bring out your appliances to help you accomplish this.

For example, this week my sour cherry tree went nuts and I would say we've already frozen about 60-70 lbs of cherries. Yeah, you read that right pounds! Needless to say at this point, I'm sick of picking cherries, pitting cherries and freezing cherries. (The birds are getting the remainder). The fact that I'm writing this at 1am in the morning still pitting the last 17lbs of cherries we picked Saturday tells you how sick I am of cherries. But, come February we'll be thrilled for the bounty that we have begun cursing. And of course the cherries didn't come to ripeness last Saturday when I had off but rather Monday when I went back to work and had no time to process them. The last of this bounty is going to be made into jelly. Tonight? Oh heck no. But tonight I can put them in the pan and in ten minutes I'll have cherry juice ready to strain and put in the fridge so tommorrow when I have the time I can finish making the jelly. If I do it in stages it isn't as exhausting as if I try to do it all at once.

Last year's cherries. We've already surpassed that in droves!

Canning tomatoes can save you a bundle alone!

When the tomatoes start coming in, I press the crockpot into duty. I work outside of the house so I don't usually have the time to make the spaghetti sauce, prepare the jars, process the spaghetti sauce and then let it cool all in one session. But I do have the time to put the ingredients in a crockpot, the jars in the dishwasher and have two of the big steps done when I get home. I can then get the canner going, fill the sink with hot water, get the lids together and finish processing. In a good year, I can up to 60-70 jars of tomato products and much of the sauces are done this way.Take your preserving one step at a time. It's tiring during the season but you'll be so glad come January or February to pop open the can of summer goodness that you'll forget all the juggling it takes to get it done. You food bill will also thank you.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Bagelly Goodness!

I'm not a native New Yorker, I'm more of a displaced Michiganer. I've lived here for over twenty years now and the of the nicest New York traditions that my husband introduced me to was bagels and a smear of cream cheese. Now it's such a part of normal life it seems funny that once seemed so foreign.

One of our Sunday rituals is to go to Bruegger's to get their Baker's Dozen special* includes 13 bagels of your choice and two cream cheeses. It's just such a nice way of "easing" into your Sunday with a nice warm bagel and a smear of wonderfully flavored cream cheese slow melting and merging with that warm bagelly goodness...I need bagelly goodness. And cream cheese. Now.Bruegger's gets $2.99 per 6.5oz of cream cheese. With all their flavors, that can really add up quick. Do you realize that is $.46 an ounce? Yikes!

Out to the herb garden for breakfast!

So, in an effort to curve our spending a bit, I thought, lets try our hand at making this at home and you know what? I think our little cream cheeses are actually as good as if not better than the famous bagel chain at a fraction of the cost. And, making it at home, I can choose what type of cream cheese I use. Full fat, whipped or Neufchatel (1/3 less fat cheese). You can make flavors that Brueggers doesn't have in their store and it's so easy!So, if you've followed my post with any frequency, you see a lot of posts about the garden. Now is the time we begin pressing that into action. Herbs pack such a large amount of flavor in such a small amount of material. In an attempt to mimic Bruegger's delicious Herb & Garlic cream cheese, I use this recipe.:HOMEMADE IS BEST MADE, HERB & GARLIC CREAM CHEESE(Fresh Herbs)2 parts (about 2-3 Tbsps) Oregano2 parts (about 2-3 Tbsps) Parsley1 part (about 1- 1 1/2 Tbsp) Chives1 part (about 1-1 1/2 Tbsp) Dill2 cloves garlic, minced fine (I use Aldi's pre-chopped, about1-2 tsp)Cream cheese of your choiceWash and dry the herbs well. Chop finely and mix, with cream cheese with your mixer, until thoroughly blended. Refridgerate for at least 20 mins to 1 hour for flavor to develop.HOMEMADE IS BEST MADE, Mixed BerryCREAM CHEESE1/4-1/2 c sliced strawberries1/4-1/2c blueberries1 Tbsp to 2 Tbsp sugar(Depending on level of tartness)1 tsp vanillaCream cheese of your choiceMix together and put in the refridgerator for 20 mins. YUM!(If you ever wanted to know why a baker's dozen is 13, here is the answer: http://mentalfloss.com/article/32259/why-bakers-dozen-13) which

About Me

I live in a 1867 Gothic Style Farmhouse next to the Erie Canal in western NY. I believe in living creatively and that style has nothing to do with money. I'd like to think I channel the spirit of Laura Ingalls Wilder living life with a sense of self-sufficiency. I love vintage cookware, the Andrew Sisters, crafting and living stylishly frugal.